A Lost Love
by Karete-chan
Summary: Being a teenager isn't easy. Being different is no biggie but when you're keeping a secret that could mean your life, it just makes growing up allthe harder.
1. Before

**A Lost Love**

By Aiya 

  
"Talking" 

'Thinking' 

~Dreams~ 

*Special words, or emphasizing word(s)*

  
  
**Chapter 1: **

All my life I have been different. I was stronger than everyone else and I looked different. I came to Earth at the age of seven. I don't remember what happened before then and I don't think I want to know. 

After watching the inhabitants for a time, I learned how to change my form to look like them. It wasn't much different from my natural form, I just had to change my skin color from green to peach and I had to hide my tail. I left my green hair alone because many earthlings had their hair dyed that color.

I have stayed in my disguise for eight years. Living among the humans. A kind couple adopted me; their daughter had been my age and had died a few months before they found me in the woods. I have almost forgotten what it was like to be in my natural form. I have accepted my life as one of the humans.

But despite all of this, I still wish I could understand what happened to me before coming to Earth. Every once in a while, I will receive an image of a man, an alien who looks like me somewhat. Then I would see another, a lizard. After that, everything is blank.

Then one day, I had a dream about my life. At the time, I thought it was just my imagination, but I soon found out otherwise.

~I was four years old. My father was Zarbon, a henchman of Frieza. That day I looked out of my room to see a young boy about my age being dragged down the hallway, biting and screaming the whole time. My father pulled me into the room and told me that he wanted to talk to me.

"Zena, please listen to me. I know that you don't know who your mother was. She died giving birth to you. She was a Saiya-jin. Did you see that boy that was dragged down the hall?"

When I nodded my head, he continued.

"That was the prince of the Saiya-jins. I want you to stay away from him. If he ever found out about you, he would want to kill you. Saiya-jins don't approve of crossbreeds. They believe that their blood should always remain pure. If he should ever see your tail, he would know that it is a Saiya-jin tail. If he found out that I was your father, he would hate you even more. From now on, I want you to wear baggy clothes in public, large shirts or skirts that will hide your tail. Do you understand?" I was still confused, but I agreed. "Good. Now go to bed." With that he picked me up and set me in the bed.~

I awoke that night in a cold sweat. 'What was that? Who was that?' Little did I know that soon I would find out more than I ever wanted to.

The next night, I had another dream.

~"Please Lord Frieza! I beg of you! Let my daughter stay here!" my father cried out to his master.

"Zarbon, she has distracted you from your work for the last time! I'm sending her away, and that's final!"

It had been three years since I had first seen Vegeta. I was now seven. I didn't really understand what was going on, but I knew that I would be taken from my daddy. Later that same day, Daddy put me into a space pod and told me goodbye.

I awoke to smoke filling my lungs. I coughed as I tried to get to my door, but was blocked by the flames. Suddenly, a bright light filled the room, and I blacked out.~

  
  
  
  
**Author's note:**

Dear faithful readers of Aiya's,

Hi, my name is Karete (_ca-reet_) and I am going to be continuing Aiya's story, 'A Lost Love', from now on. Aiya has kindly let me adopt the story and I hope that it doesn't put anyone off reading it.

I will continue with her original idea of making this a Trunks romance piece. As she stated on her original post:

THIS IS NOT A SELF-INSERTION!

And it will never be one. Some original characters, yes, but no-one who resembles either Aiya or myself (except by accident because I have no idea what Aiya looks like). Of course in tribute to the original author maybe Aiya could walk past in the background or something.

I hope that Aiya will keep in touch with me so if the direction I take is not what was originally intended, I can change or work around it.

For those of you reading this in mm.org all of Aiya's other stories are posted on ff.net. 'A Lost Love' was inspired by the story Other Worldly Affairs by V. C Wolfwood. The address to that story is:

; (sorry Aiya, I stole that from your original Author's note)

  
Reviews are the most welcome thing on the face of the planet. I need them to give my muses inspiration otherwise they cough, splutter and die or take it out on my brothers (not that I'm complaining mind you).

Shameless advertising: 'Another Time' (PG-13) by Karete-chan (ff.net and mm.org)

'Only the Weak' (NC-17) by Karete-chan (mm.org)

I hope you enjoy. Ja ne,

Karete


	2. New Beginnings

**A Lost Love **

By Karete-chan 

**Chapter 2:**

I never did get to see the ending to that dream. It kept recurring for a couple of nights but every time I would black out in the dream world I would wake up here, at home, safe in the comfort of my bed. 

The first time I woke up in a cold sweat and I must have screamed because my adoptive kassan came running into my room. She's sweet but should know that I can take care of myself by now. When it woke me more than a few times she wanted me to see a doctor. A psychologist. I didn't go. There was nothing wrong with me and unless he could tell me what happened at the end of the dream and why I was sent away then he would be useless. 

I told my kassan that. In those exact words. I was grounded for a week. 

If I didn't hold my adoptive parents in such high regard I would have been annoyed but from respect I obeyed their wishes. You might think that I am terrible not to love them for the home and shelter and love that they have given to me. I do not think I have ever loved. Perhaps I loved my father but I do not remember. 

West City is not the ideal place to be having this slight life crisis either. Too many snooping prying noses live here. Even school is a trial. Each day pretending that you're normal, when dreams haunt you. Hah, you say, what about all those poor children who are treated badly, that leaves them with scars for life? Don't their dreams haunt them? Yes. They would. Yet unlike me their dreams have finality; they stop at one point or another. I fear that mine will never stop. That there is no one who can tell me what happened that day or what has happened since. 

I will persevere. I believe my father would be disappointed were I not to. Perhaps one day I will return to space. The local billion-dollar industry, Capsule Corporation, has a certified genius running the place. Bulma Briefs I believe her name is. There are rumours that she has travelled in space, though the general populace has trouble coping with flying aircraft. Maybe one day I can commission her to build me a craft. Perhaps on the day that pigs begin flying, the same day that hell freezes over. 

I learnt long ago that dreams are just that. Dreams. They get broken more often then they come true. 

Ah. I should stop this because I am depressing you. No. Don't shake your head and deny it. I'm depressing myself to tell the truth. So I shall tell you what happened to change my mind and ended the nightmares. 

I had been immersed in a rather intelligent book. That was strange in itself as I usually found Chikyuu-jin literature to be rather sappy and over emotional. I fear that that is my Saiya-jin blood that causes me to feel that way. But this book, about broken loves and hates because of differences, had piqued my interest. 'Wuthering Heights', was the title I believe. 

In any case, I had been reading this book in a corner of the cafeteria during an extended lunch break. My sole friend, another outcast like myself, Frame, was sick and having a pleasant time watching daytime soap operas. Quite suddenly and very rudely, a very loud pack of students waltzed their way into what was once the relative quiet of the lunchroom. Me being who I am immediately glanced up and scowled. 

It was the boy at the head on the pack that immediately caught my attention. I had never seen such a grin on any person's face before. It was if, in the face of that grin, nothing could ever be wrong or hurt or cause misery in any way. It was so…carefree. I had smiled at that thought. Carefree was exactly the word I was looking for as I took in the absolute mop of a hairdo he sported. Black hair spiked unevenly in every which way, seemingly laughing at the world as it defied gravity in such an open manner. 

He amused me, this boy, until I saw what he was wearing; an Orange Star High School badge. I frowned. Our school was not exactly on 'friendly' terms with them. In fact if I recall the last two times they'd met, several of the students had ended up in the emergency room. I watched them warily for a while, concerned that a fight would break out and I would be forced to stop them. I hated when that happened. Especially the small white lies I would have to tell at the end about the 'lucky' punches I happened to have thrown. 

Jolted from my thoughts of what might have been the immediate future I found the grinning boy looking in my direction, all traces of the inane smile gone. Momentarily startled I looked away and busied myself with my book once again. The noise had died and I assumed that this meant that no one would come to blows. 

"Good book?" Said book suddenly found itself no longer in my hands. "Sorry," the voice said, as I bent to retrieve it from the floor, "I didn't mean to scare you." 

"Being scared and startled are two entirely different things," I sniffed haughtily from beneath the table. I heard the scrape of a chair. 

"What're you doing all the way over here by yourself?" 

I looked up at the obviously male voice and nearly dropped the book again. His grin had found its way back and it conveyed even more friendliness when seen from close up. 

"Reading," I said, momentarily losing my fine articulation for words I had carried since I could walk. 

"Ah, a bookworm." How I hate that word! "Not that that's a bad thing," he added hurriedly obviously reading my face. His distress at insulting me showed clearly on his open features, I hope my annoyance was not as obvious. "My brother's a bookw…school…learning type person too." 

"Why are you here?" I asked somewhat irritably. 

"No reason. I just don't like seeing people on their own, that's all." 

"My friend is sick," I said defensively. 

"Oh. Sorry to hear it." He lent forward onto the table. "Say, my friend's throwing an end-of-term bash at his place. You wouldn't like to come would you? You can bring your friend too." 

I was taken aback. A party? No one ever invited Frame or me to parties. We weren't enough like the social runners of the school to be daubed 'acceptable' enough to be seen at parties. 

"Here," he said handing me a piece of blue paper. "It's invite only. You don't have to let anyone know you're coming but if they give you any trouble at the door just tell them you know Goten." He stood. "See you there." Giving a small wave he walked away. I watched him go, watched him as he met his friends, watched as they left the cafeteria. 

It wasn't until it was too late that I noticed that my mouth was hanging open. 

"Nice impression of a fish, Zena." 

I snapped my mouth shut. I hated that voice. "Hello, Floss." I turned my black eyes upward to meet the seemingly innocent baby-blue gaze of the captain of the cheerleading squad. 

She tipped her head, which I assume might have helped her to think slightly better, causing her blonde hair, with its shocking pink streaks, to bob annoyingly in their pony-tailed confinement. 

"Whatcha got there?" As if she didn't know. "Oh! Is that an invitation? Wow. You freaks actually got yourselves organized enough to throw a party?" She giggled inanely as her cronies snickered behind her. She stopped all of a sudden and you could have heard a pin drop in the ensuing silence. "It isn't though. Goten gave you that." She lent forward in exactly the same manner he had only minutes before except that her chest was in the very real danger of escaping from her far too tight top. "Listen here, freako. If you know what's good for you you'll stay away from that party. I mean, you wouldn't want to ruin it for everyone else would you?" 

I gazed back at her trying to telepathically force her to go away. It must have worked, because she stood, saving me from the horror of seeing things that would most likely haunt me worse than the nightmares I was already having. 

Her I'm-just-a-darling-smile was flashed in my direction again before she saunted off. "Oh!" she said turning to me again. "And stay away from Goten. He's way out of your league." 

I scowled at that and they burst into giggles. Flushing red I buried my head in my book, angry with myself for letting them get a rise out of me. 

When the general laughter had died down I pulled out the invitation. Saturday night, blah, blah, blah, 7.30, blah, blah, blah, Capsule Corp., blah, bla…Capsule Corp.? I read the printed words again. Capsule Corp. That meant that the friend he…Goten, had mentioned, was Trunks Briefs. 

I knew Trunks but only by sight. He went to this exact same school, only two years ahead of me. Rumour had it that Bulma had attended here and that she wanted her son to have the education she did. Even if it were not true I liked the thought of that. It showed that she had some semblance of respect for the public school system. 

I sat back in my seat and smiled slightly. Well. This was to good an opportunity to waste. If that empty-headed, pom-pom tossing, bimbo thought I was going to stay away she had another thing coming. What's the Chikyuu-jin saying? I'll be there with bells on. 

And Frame will go in that awful hat she always wears. 


	3. Preparation

**A Lost Love **

By Karete-chan

**Chapter 3:**

After school I made my way through downtown West City towards Frame's house. You would think having the power to fly would make riding a bike boring. I actually find it quite peaceful. In the air there is hardly anything to avoid, apart from a stray bird or two. Riding a bike requires concentration. It is pleasant not to have to think about school or the fact that you don't belong anywhere in the world you call home. Downtown West City has many obstacles that it is necessary to avoid. Such as the old man that runs the fruit stall on the corner of Main and Satan. I think perhaps bikes were invented after his time, whereas his fruits probably came before him.

Frame is a weird girl, even by my standards. Though you wouldn't know it if you saw her house or family. They are as typical a Chikyuu-jin family you find anywhere. Mother, Father, annoying little brother, house with four bedrooms and a nicely manicured lawn; PTA and school events organizers. Then there is Frame. Hair worn in tinted blue and black spikes with a taste in clothing that tended to frown upon fashion, of any kind. I don't remember how exactly that we became friends; maybe it was because she looked stranger than I felt.

I walked into the house and the television was blaring. I made the logical conclusion and walked through the kitchen where I received a beaming smile from Frame's mother. For some strange reason that I can't fathom both her parents seem to think that I am a good influence on their daughter. I think because Frame hasn't become 'worse' since I came along. Returning her mother's gesture I escaped before she could offer me milk and cookies. I had outgrown that before I'd even known what they were.

Frame was lounging on the couch when I entered. She didn't bother acknowledging that I was there; her attention was riveted to the television screen where two of what some people refer to as 'actors' were feigning shock at some other actor's I-was-dead-but-now-I'm-alive appearance. I tossed our latest assignment at her head.

"Thanks," she said absently without taking her eyes from the screen.

I rolled my eyes. "People asked where you were today."

"Really?" Her head whipped around, her large green eyes wide in surprise.

I smirked. That had got her attention. "No," I said dropping down on the couch next to her, "but I was given this." She took the blue piece of paper and scanned it quickly. "Well?"

"Nice joke, Zen. You didn't get up early enough though."

"No joke. Guy named Goten gave it to me. Then I got an honest to goodness threat on my life from the queen of the pompom people."

Frame raised an eyebrow. "You're serious? Us; at this party?"

I shrugged. She was going to protest and I knew it. It hardly mattered though. A day or two of carefully placed hints would have her change her mind. I just wished I could do the same with that hat of hers.

My kassan was over the moon when I showed her the invite. So happy in fact that she began to plan what I was going to wear for me. Have I mentioned before how nice my kassan is? Well she's also one of those people who can be too nice. Have you ever met anyone like that? If you have then you know exactly how annoying they can be because all they really do is get in your way. Then there's the incessant urge to scream at them but you can't because deep down you know that they're only trying to help. That was what was happening as I watched my kassan rummage around in my wardrobe.

Now, if I were a normal teenager I would be somewhat apprehensive of my kassan going through my wardrobe and coming across all the things I'd hidden in there so that she wouldn't find them. I wasn't though. Mainly because all the things I didn't want her to find where behind the loose panel in the wall. Such as the one and only photo of me in my true form.

"Kassan," I said exasperatedly but it was really more like whining. "You really don't need to help me. I'm perfectly capable of choosing my own clothes."

She sat back on her heels and sighed. "I know, it's just that I miss the time when you used to ask me to do things for you."

I smirked. "Such a time never existed."

"It did," she said softly as she left the room. "It just didn't last very long."

I fumed as she disappeared from my sight. I hated when she did that. I always, always felt guilty that I couldn't have been a normal child for her. Or, at least what she would consider 'normal'. Of course, I'm not saying that I was a terrible child; I just never really needed a kassan the way she wanted to be one.

I desperately wanted to punch something so I left the house and ventured out into the forest behind the house. Well, I call it a forest but it's more like an oversized grove of trees. There's a small fist sized depression in the ground of the clearing that strangely enough keeps getting bigger every time I visit. It was another two inches deeper by the time I left.

The phone was ringing when I got back inside. Tousan entered the hall from his study and picked it up. He flashed me a smile as he did so and disappeared back into the gloom. He works as a lawyer in one of the big firms in the city and hopes to make partner sometime soon. I wandered into the kitchen and rummaged through the fridge for a snack. The call had probably been about the big case he was working on; otherwise he would have just stayed in the hall. I asked him about it once but he simply smiled and ruffled my hair (another pet hate of mine) and told me that when it was over he'd buy me a pony. I couldn't help but smile at that; he'd been offering me a pony since they adopted me and I'd flatly declined every time.

Pulling half the contents from the refrigerator (it's wonderful to be able to eat like a pig and not gain any weight) and headed back to my room. I flipped on the television and listened to the afternoon news.

It was, as always, tedious and boring. A plane crashed, a bank was robbed and a kitten rescued from a tree by firemen with nothing better to do. I couldn't believe how behind the Chikyuu-jin were sometimes. Out there in space whole galaxies fought and died and ships travelled at hyper light speeds from planet to planet. Sometimes it was so peaceful here that it was annoying. No one had ever heard of Frieza or even travelled in space! The closest thing they had was Capsule Corp.'s new sports flyer. Chikyuu-jin were so…sheltered. The same question I had been asking myself for years flitted briefly through my mind again as I sat down at my desk to begin my homework.

Why, with all this planet's untapped resources hadn't Frieza sent a team to purge it yet?

The rest of the week drifted by as mundanely as usual. As far as I could tell the whole school had been awash with rumour about the party by the Friday afternoon classes. Apparently Trunks had hired four of the most popular bands around, one for each section of the Capsule Corp. complex. Of course the fact that the invitation had clearly said D.J mattered very little to anyone who was willing to listen.

I was, despite myself actually looking forward to attending. Part of that was that if there were going to be Orange Star high schoolers there then none of them would know me and that was a very pleasing thought. The other part was just wanting to see the look of fury on Floss's face as I walked through the door and if I could get her to see me talking with Goten it would be even better. It's petty I know, but you take the chances life gives you.

The one regret I had was when I walked past a group of giggling imbeciles on my way home that afternoon. They had been discussing with great enthusiasm and extreme loudness, what they were going to wear, supposedly so that they didn't clash. Talk of halter neck tops, bare midriffs and hipster jeans floated over to me. I sighed as I walked down the front steps, I would dearly love to be able to wear those kind of things but my tail make it impossible for me. I didn't want to be more of a freak than I already was. The only skin I would be showing the next night would be my arms and ankles but perhaps I could do something with my hair.

Frame arrived at my house early the next day. So early in fact that it wasn't even twilight yet. Her excuse was that she had to leave the house before her parents came home so that they wouldn't be able to yell at her for what she was wearing. Silently I agreed with her parents but I could see that the girl had actually tried to look slightly 'normal'.

She had obviously spent a great deal of time on her hair as every blue tinted spike was perfectly even, her shirt did not have some vulgar or environmentally significant message printed on it and I was pleasantly surprised to see that she owned something that had glitter on it. The overly large and ripped army cargoes topped with her massive black hiking boots was where her taste faltered. I sighed when I spotted her hat in her hand.

Leaving her in the lounge to watch the early evening soaps I headed upstairs to prepare myself. The skirt was made of that light denim but had an embroidered dragon down one side. It was long enough so that I didn't have to keep my tail around my leg if I was careful. Then I rummaged through my wardrobe for a top. I pulled several out before deciding. It was perfect, I grinned to myself, a singlet top of plain white with one word written across the front, Sayian. When I had bought it I asked the man in the shop what the word meant, to see if he knew anything. He had laughed and said something about it being one of those newfangled made up things that people seemed to like. I slipped it on and then undid the bun I kept my hair in.

It was long now, past my shoulder blades. A mental picture of my tousan, my real tousan, flickered in my mind and I smiled to myself again as I began to braid it. My eyes travelled to the secret panel in the wall and I debated for a moment wether I should wear the earrings I hadn't worn since I came to this planet.

I went downstairs earring less and Frame I stepped out the door and into the freshness of the twilight. The invitation lay tucked safely in a corner of my shoulder bag. 

**Author's note:**

Hi. Thanks to Selcier, Aiya and Schizophrenic for reviewing. I'm glad you like the way I'm going with this. Next chapter: Party Time.

- Karete


	4. Arrival

*I do not own Sylvester Stallone either* 

**A Lost Love **

By Karete-chan

**Chapter 3:**

If one word could describe Capsule Corp. that word would be 'big'. The domed building that was the living quarters of the complex was not the tallest in the city but the outlaying grounds and several warehouses and labs mad the place a city unto itself. I had never been inside before and, as far as I knew, neither had Frame but we discovered this depressing fact as we rounded yet another corner and found ourselves once again not in the place where we wanted to be.

"Remind me again why we didn't bring a map?"

I scowled. "We could have bought one off that guy standing on the corner."

"Yeah and ended up outside a run down cottage with 'Sylvester Stallone's house' written on the outside."

"It would be more fun that being lost in this labyrinth."

I glanced up the street again. Warehouse sized buildings flanked us on either side and gave no view of anything that resembled the main house. I knew very well that I could just float up and point the way there but Frame knew nothing of my powers and I was quite contented to keep it that way. So we continued up the street.

"Maybe if we keep walking in this direction we'll happen upon it," Frame suggested.

"Or we will simply end up on the other side of the compound and be right back where we started from half an hour ago."

"Oh come on Zena! Have a little faith."

"Fine. I'll just stop here and pray to Kami to find us a way out of this mess."

"You don't have to be sarcastic, you know," she huffed, "I was just trying to be positive."

"Yeah, well I'm not feeling so chirpy," I answered glancing at my watch.

A sudden clattering of cans stopped our argument. We froze, or, Frame froze, I sighed and hoped I didn't have to play reluctant hero. A few old aluminium cans rolled out of an alleyway a short distance away followed closely by a shrill giggle and the muffled cursing of a man's voice. Then a blue streak dashed out of the shadows and began to jump up and down in front of us.

"Hi! Hi! Who are you? My name's Bra. Are you looking for the party? We heard you arguing. I like your skirt. I'm not invited but I'm going anyway. Are you lost? We'll help you!"

Frame and I stared at the blue haired little girl.

"Uh, you don't feel light headed or anything do you?" asked Frame. "You know, dizzy or anything?"

"Nope!" the girl – Bra – grinned brightly back.

"You needn't worry about her."

We looked up to see a purple haired old man walking towards us. Bra turned around and gave him a hug as he approached. He ruffled her hair.

"She never lets you get a word in does she?" he smiled at us. "I'm Dr. Briefs. You must be looking for my grandson's party."

I nodded. "We are but as Bra here rightly guessed, we're a little lost."

"A little? My dear girl, you're clear on the wrong side of the compound. And headed in the wrong direction I might add."

I glanced over at Frame and gave her a look that clearly said I-told-you-so. She smiled.

"See Zen, having a little faith works."

I scowled and Bra giggled.

"Well," Dr. Briefs said, trying to hide his smile behind his moustache. "If we want to get there before Christmas…" He turned and holding Bra by the hand walked off down the street.

We could hear the party long before we set eyes upon it. Someone, evidentially someone with deplorable hearing, had set the volume of the sound system to 'unable-to-hear-the-person-next-to-you-without-shouting'. Dr. Briefs visibly winced as we rounded the last corner and the volume suddenly raised another notch.

By this time Bra was once again jumping up and down excitedly. Her mouth was open and I'm sure she was saying something, it may have been 'grandpa it's loud' but my lip reading skills are not the best so don't hold me to that.

Now, Frame and I go to what most would call a large school but the amount of people we saw milling around the outside the building was the most I had seen in my entire life. A long line more were lined up outside the makeshift fence that surrounded it. If you didn't know otherwise you would think that this was a popular nightclub. Faces of all ages peered around those in front of them to see how far they were from the head of the line. As we got closer I saw several people towards the end of the line try to scale the fence to get inside but as soon as they touched it small sparks would jump out at them.

We followed Dr. Briefs towards the burly looing guard at the gap in the fence. He smiled at the man and strolled through, holding Bra by the hand. We didn't fare as well.

"Back of the line," he growled at us. The line of people joined him.

Calmly I pulled the invitation out of my bag and showed it to him. He took it grudgingly and looked at it before handing it back.

"Back of the line," he said again.

I gaped at him. "But we have an invitation!" I shouted above the music, waving the blue paper under his nose.

"No name on it, no entry," he barked, "back of the line!"

"But I was given this personally by Goten!"

"Never heard of him. Now back of the line!"

I scowled at the man, knowing full well that I could just knock him unconscious and walk straight in but the rational part of me, the part that didn't want to cause a scene, told me to turn and walk away.

"Cheer up Zena," Frame said as we walked to the end of the very long line. "We'll get in eventually." Her feigned optimism was endearing. I stood with my back to the party, barely controlling my temper. "Hey…Zen? Zen, are you alright?" I looked up into her wide eyes. They flicked towards my hand. With a force of effort I open my fist. My fingers came away bloody. "Kami, Zen," Frame whispered. "What did you do that for? It's only a party." She reached for my hand.

I snatched it away. "It's fine," I snapped, regretting it instantly. It wasn't her fault that this had happened. Her eyes blinked in surprise.

"Okay," she said. "I was just being concerned."

I cringed. Way to lay on the guilt Frame.

"Hey, what're you guys doing?" We turned. Goten was grinning at us from the other side of the fence. "Why're you waiting in line?"

"You're invitation was invalid," I frowned, "and the guy at the gate has never heard of you."

"Ah, well, you see…tell you what, let's get you guys in here and then I'll explain," he gestured for us to go back up the gate.

The line began to heckle us again as we passed but we stood and bore it as Goten spoke to the bouncer. The large man came back looking sheepish and apologized as he stood to the side and let us in.

"Nice shirt," Goten said as we joined him. "Sorry about all that, we've had people all night claiming to know either me or Trunks." He put his hand behind his head. "I would've put you name on the invite but…well…I don't know what it is."

"Zena," I answered, "and this is Frame." Frame waved brightly then her hand sort of…drooped. She rolled her eyes. Goten and I both turned to see what she was looking at.

A group of girls were standing near one of the doors. Every now and then one would look up and glance at us. Goten groaned as I scowled. Some of them were part of Floss's group.

"Can't they take a hint?" he said to himself, shaking his head. Then perked up. "You guys hungry?" he asked tilting his head towards us. "C'mon this way." We followed him inside.

The music wasn't as loud in there but the noise the people were making more than made up for it. Goten wound his way through the crowd and we plunged in after him. As we went I managed to grab a serviette and wrap it around my hand and was treated with several people stepping on my feet for my effort.

Breaking through the crowd at the other end I saw Goten talking to a bunch of other people and Frame standing on one leg and gingerly rubbing her foot. She rolled her eyes as she spotted me.

"Why is this room so crowded?" she asked, as I got closer.

I shrugged my shoulders in reply.

"Try looking in the corner," Goten answered as he joined us, waving at someone across the room.

It turned out to be Dr. Briefs who along with a pretty blonde lady were manning the very professional looking bar.

"Are those cocktails she's making?" Frame asked incredulously.

"Yeah."

"But that's illegal! And really expensive!"

"The Briefs never do anything by halves," he said, "but you do have to have I.D to get anything stronger than a soda from them. C'mon, this way."

Though I loathe to use the cliché, I thought I had died and gone to heaven. Never had I seen so much food in one place. Tables were piled with every kind of party food you could care to imagine.

"Zen," Frame whispered, "your mouth is hanging open."

"Impressive, huh?" Goten asked.

I closed my mouth and nodded. There were less people in here, which surprised me somewhat. Not that my stomach minded of course. It was too busy doing somersaults at the thought of all the food that it might possibly be able to hold. I would have to be careful – I might well go home a few sizes larger than when I left.

Goten had just handed us some plates when a crash came from outside. I turned slowly, half expecting the sliding plate glass window to be strewn all over the floor. It wasn't. Goten sighed heavily beside me, muttering something that sounded like 'not again' before the argument outside got to loud for me to hear him.

"Uh, should we do something?" Frame asked, as the sounds of fighting got louder.

"No," Goten answered turning back to the food. "They'll get over it eventually. Hopefully before my kassan has to step in."

"It was _your_ brat Kakarott! He talked the boy into this fool idea of a…a party!"

My ears pricked up.

"Gokou! What do you think you're doing?"

Then I almost had to cover them from the pitch of the following screech. I'm sure my tail puffed out to twice its size.

"See, over before it's begun," Goten said lightly, smiling at me.

I nodded but continued to look out the tinted doors, wondering why the harsh voiced had been so eerily familiar. I shrugged and turned back to the food. It was of no consequence. I would find out who Kakarott and Gokou were soon enough. 


	5. Searching

**A Lost Love **

By Karete-chan

**Chapter 4:**

The party was a buzz with talk about the 'frightening' incident for about an hour afterwards. When it got to the point that rumours were saying someone was killed, I stopped finding them amusing. By that time Goten had wandered off so Frame and I were walking around, giving ourselves a self-guided tour of the inside of the building.

So far we had discovered, the kitchen (industrial size), several more rooms for entertaining, a gym and the room that housed the Briefs' home theatre. It may seem to you that we were being a little too nosy for our own good but in each and every room there were at least twenty other people and it seemed to become more and more likely to me that the whole of West City had decided to attend tonight.

Eventually we found the stairs. It took us at least five minutes to climb one story, as we had to pick our way over the drunks lounging on them. Frame wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"Do people have no self control?" she muttered from behind me. I shrugged in answer as I delicately kicked one of the drunks for trying to look up my skirt.

At first upstairs seemed to be no different from down. It was all living area and once again filled with partying people.

"Every seat in this whole place is taken," Frame grumbled. "I bet the only place left is the roof."

I smiled at that thought, seeing as I was the only one who would be able to get up there.

"And just what do you think you're doing?"

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Frame jump slightly in her boots. Slowly, and plastering the biggest smile on my face as I could, I turned around.

"Floss!" I exclaimed over excitedly. "Wow, how great to see you! I didn't know you were going to be here!"

Her stupid, makeup plastered face darkened considerably. "I told you not to come, freak."

"Is that what that conversation was? All I heard were grunts."

Three of her friends appeared behind her. I wondered vaguely, as she yelled in my face, if they really thought it was worth it. But then they possibly didn't have enough brains to think about it. All of them wore the same identical look, a sneer; the kind that you use only when you're trying to be intimidating but not really thinking about it. I focused my attention back on Floss. The girl was almost foaming at the mouth.

"Are you quite finished?"

"Are you quite finished?" she mimicked me, in a high squeaky voice. "Don't talk posh at me, freak. Where do you think you're from? Central City?"

"So now I'm a freak because I use proper manners? Really Floss, you do need to straighten out your thoughts before you open your mouth."

"Zen…" Frame hissed from beside me.

The blonde bimbo's eyes narrowed even further. I wondered if I looked blurry to her yet. "You be careful, freakazoid."

"Or what?" I asked, leaning in towards her. "You'll slap me silly with those dopey ponytails of yours? Don't make me laugh."

Her face turned bright pink at the insult. That and her chubby cheeks reminded me for a moment of one of the men my father used to work with; my real father that is.

"Anything the matter girls?"

"Oh, Bulma-san!" Floss exclaimed, turning to face the woman behind her. "We were just discussing that awful fight from before. I can't believe anyone would treat your hospitality that way!"

"Neither can I," the blue-haired woman replied somewhat dryly. "Could I ask you girls to do me a favour?"

"Oh, anything Bulma-san!"

"Good. There are a few boxes down in the basement. Could you take them to my father for me?"

"Of course! We'd be happy too!"

Bulma smiled at them. "I knew I could count on you. You're such responsible young girls."

Floss and her cronies smiled back at her and dashed from the room on their little quest. Bulma turned to us.

"They weren't giving you any trouble were they?"

Floss and I shook our heads.

"Good. Now, neither of you would happen to know where my son is, would you? He's been trying to keep away from those four all night."

"Let's hope he's not in the basement then," I replied.

Bulma smirked. "Oh, he can't be. We don't have one, only warehouses. By the time they figure that out though the party will probably be over." She shifted the box she was holding to one hip and stuck out her hand. "I'm Bulma Briefs, nice to meet you." Frame and I shook it in turn, introducing ourselves. "Well, at least you two seem to have your heads screwed on straight. I have to run but if you see Trunks tell him I need to speak to him. Ja ne!"

Bulma hurried off down the stairs we had come up kicking the same man I did, but a lot more viciously.

"You know, I have this sort of pleasant feeling now that I know someone like the great Bulma Briefs thinks the same of Floss and Co. as we do," Frame said dreamily beside me.

"The feeling that you were right all along? You don't need to be a genius to figure that out. Anyway let's go."

"Go? Go where?"

"To find Trunks of course."

"Why? Bulma said 'only if we see him'."

"Yes. And we're going to see him when we find him and thank him for the nice party that he's thrown tonight."

"And why do we have to do that?"

I looked at her quizzically. "Because we are courteous guests. Is there something you're not telling me?"

"No," she answered a little quickly.

I folded my arms. "You still aren't over that crush thing yet, are you?"

Frame turned red.

A few months ago Frame, quite contrary to her usual character, had suddenly gone all mushy on me. As it turned out she had finally become afflicted with a disease that was sweeping the school, and no, I don't mean that teenagers inside were turning to mush, at least, not literally. How she of all people had managed to develop a crush on the schools star athlete, smartest pupil and all round popular boy, was something that was beyond me. She had always been the type who said we should never conform to what others think just to fit in, we should all be individuals and do our own thing, we need to be independent and so on, and a few months ago these arguments were just as strong, except for when she spotted Trunks Briefs. Then she would taper off into whispers and end up muttering whatever she was trying to say. I thought she had gotten over it. I was obviously wrong and, as I stood there watching her face go red, I hoped that nothing like that ever happened to me.

I rolled my eyes at her as I grabbed her wrist and led her through the party.

Trunks turned out to be extremely elusive. I hastily deferred Frames attempts at wanting to search downstairs, as I had not seen him and believe me, Trunks Briefs is not someone you would miss. No matter who you were. So we searched the rest of the level. When nothing turned up there either, I pulled Frame up to the next.

By that point even I felt that we were being a little too snoopy for our own good. The third level was almost deserted. As we walked down the corridor voices wafted out of a brightly lit room ahead of us. A quick glance around the corner revealed several adults, one of whom was obviously Goten's father and another as Videl Satan, the daughter of the Worlds Strongest Man. It didn't surprise me that the Briefs hobnobbed with the best of them but why would someone of Videl's influence be at an end of term bash?

"Kami! That's Videl Satan, Zen," Frame hissed in my ear.

"I know," I whispered back. "But who cares? We have to be quiet. I don't think we're supposed to be up here."

Silently we slipped past the room and into the rest of the curving corridor.

"Shouldn't we have just asked Goten where Trunks was?"

"Why? So you could hide in the furthest corner away from him? Besides don't you think that Bulma is smart enough to have asked him first? And then Floss would be sure to find out and we would never hear the end of it."

"What is her problem anyway?"

"The one that afflicts all bullies everywhere. The need to belittle everyone they can't control, in order to feel good about themselves."

"Low self-esteem? You've got to be kidding."

"I'm completely serious. It's what psychologists have been saying for years." I peeked inside a darkened room. Nothing. Turning back to Frame, I found her leaning against the wall, her arms crossed against her chest.

She scowled. "He's not here. So can we give up and go back down already?"

A breeze blew a strand of hair across my face. I thought nothing of it until I remembered that we were in an enclosed corridor on the third floor. I turned towards the end of the corridor, which was encased in darkness.

"Hey, Zen. Are you listening?"

I looked up when I reached the end, to see stars glinting in the dark sky above. I smiled. Well, there was at least one person at this party that thought in the same way we did.

"Frame?"

"Yeah?"

"Still want to know if the only spare seats are on the roof?" 


	6. Discovery

**A Lost Love **

By Karete-chan

**Chapter 5:**

After a quick search of the dark corridor we found a ladder. I made Frame climb it first and had to catch her as she slipped on the curved roof. After some precarious balancing acts we finally made it through the hole and stood in the cool night breeze.

Below us, the party buzzed away and music blared, although, from where we were, it was all a pleasant hum. Trunks sat with his back to us, on a more slanted part of the roof.

"Whatever it is, go away. I'm not interested."

I glanced at Frame who nodded and started to head back through the hole. I grabbed her shirt and shook my head vehemently when she turned pleading eyes on me.

"Actually, we were sent to tell you that your mother is looking for you." I crossed my fingers behind my back. So it was a white lie. Frame glared at me.

Trunks turned around, his unusual coloured hair blowing softly in the wind. I could practically hear Frame swooning behind me as he fixed us with his blue eyes.

"And you are?" he queried.

"Zena," I answered, "and this is Frame." She waved and made some kind of squeaking noise that was lost in the breeze. He seemed to have heard it though, which surprised me, as the wind was blowing away from him and towards us. He raised an eyebrow at her and sighed.

He turned to look back at me. "So the two of you climbed all the way up here to tell me that my mother is looking for me." His eyes narrowed. "How did you get past my family?"

I shrugged. "Same way you did I suppose." For some reason, he smiled at that.

"Well," he said standing. "Better not keep her waiting." He strode over to the ladder and took a step down. "By the way," he asked, looking up as he descended. "She didn't happen to tell you what she wanted me for."

"Only that she wanted to talk to you," I answered as I went to follow him.

When we were all safely inside, Trunks led the way into the lighted areas of the third floor. His family glanced up when we entered, smiled at him and went back to what they were doing.

"You guys want something to drink?" Trunks asked as he moved into what looked like another kitchen.

"Sure!" Frame answered a little too quickly. Again, Trunks raised an eyebrow at her. The red blush that spread across her cheeks was all too plain in the well-lit kitchen. Trunks sighed again and stuck his head in the refrigerator.

"How many kitchens do you have in this house, anyway?" I asked as I settled myself against a long bench. "I think this is the third one I've seen tonight."

Trunks' voice was muffled as he answered. "Three in the main house, some scattered in the labs and my mother just attached a new one to the gravity room."

Frame and I looked at each other. "Gravity room?" I asked.

"Yeah, we use it to test the strength and durability of some of our products." He turned from the fridge, laden with food.

I stared. "Is that all for you?"

Trunks dumped his armload on the bench and tossed a can of drink to each of us. "Yeah. Why? You hungry?"

My eyes widened. He ate almost as much as I did.

He looked sheepish and shrugged. "I'm a bit of a pig," he said grinning.

"No wonder there was so much food downstairs," Frame said from beside me. Trunks glanced over at her and she immediately blushed. He sighed again.

"Some of that was for Goten too," he explained, beginning to butter some bread. "He's a friend of mine."

"Oh, we met Goten already," I said, leaning against the bench. "He invited us."

"Oh," Trunks said without looking up.

Silence fell over us and for a minute or two we just listened to the conversation that was floating in from the other room.

"How did you meet him?" Frame asked.

"Hmm? Who?" Trunks asked, glancing up from making his seventh sandwich.

"Goten." Frame hopped up and sat on the edge of the bench. "Did you guys meet in school or what?"

Trunks smiled. "I've known Goten since we were little. Much to my father's disappointment."

"Doesn't he approve?" I asked.

"You could say that. He's always spouting off about how the Sons are beneath us but I don't think he really believes it." He stopped spreading jam on his tenth sandwich for a moment and smiled at me. "But even if he did kaasan would never let him keep them away. She's been friends with Goten's dad like forever."

"Sounds like your dad's a bummer," Frame said, grabbing an apple.

Trunks took a bite of sandwich. "Nah, not really," he said around a mouthful. "He's pretty good. You just gotta know how to get around him." He swallowed. "My little sister, Bra, she's already got him worked out. Somewhere between the time she learnt to crawl and the time she learnt to talk she wrapped him around her little finger."

"I can believe that. She's a bubbly little thing isn't she?"

"You guys met her too?" he laughed. "Is there anyone I'm close to you haven't run into? Or isn't it a coincidence? You guys aren't cleverly stalking me and leading me into an ingenious trap are you?"

I smiled. "No. That would take important time away from shopping and gossiping."

"You're kidding right?"

"Of course."

He smiled at me again and out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw Frame scowl. That would be the last thing I needed; to lose my only friend over something as stupid as a boy. I was about to suggest leaving when there was a commotion from the other room.

Trunks lent on the bench, his fringe falling in his eyes, and sighed.

Frame reached out to touch his shoulder, hesitated a moment, then pulled her hand away. "What's the matter?" she asked, looking back into the other room.

Trunks sighed again and stood up straight. "It's just someone stirring up trouble."

"So? Won't your family be able to take care of it?"

He looked over at her and I could see the concentration in her face as she fought not to blush. "They'll probably just make the situation worse." He smiled but it seemed strained.

"Why?" I asked, looking him directly in the eye.

To his credit, he didn't look away. Most people usually do. Then they try to hide their inadequacy by attributing it to being startled by my unusual eye colour. To tell the truth, at that moment I felt that his blue eyes were trying to intimidate my golden. People have tried that too. It never worked then and it didn't now.

"My father hates these things," he said after a moment. "You heard the commotion earlier?"

I nodded.

"That was him and his best friend. Though, he'd deny that if you ever asked him."

"Is your dad Gokou or Kakarott?" Frame asked, causing Trunks to look at her again.

He smiled and her face lit up. "Neither. Come on, I'll introduce you. Perhaps it'll help distract him." He led the way through into the other room.

His friends and family looked up when we entered and most of them looked slightly sheepish. A few were standing around glaring. Not at anyone in particular either. It seemed as if they were glaring just for the sake of it; at the wall, the couch, the floor. Goten's father was being glared at by a small dark haired lady who I assumed must have been his wife. But the thing most of them were doing was trying to ignore the row happening on the other side of the room between Bulma and a man I couldn't quite see.

Goten appeared out of nowhere beside Trunks. "Never fails, does it?" he asked in a loud stage whisper. Trunks just shook his head. Then Goten spotted us. "Oh, hey! I see you guys found each other." He nudged Trunks in the ribs. "See I told you she was a cutie." They both glanced at me.

I fumed. Me? A cutie? How dare they fling frivolous words like that about my character! I was about to open my mouth and ruin the good graces I was currently in, when I saw Frame turn abruptly away. In that split second my mind did a complete flip and the words that came out of my mouth were not the ones I had meant to say.

"Oh, see, now look what you've gone and done. Frame's all embarrassed."

Their reaction was surprising. I had always thought the term 'sweat-drop' was a figure of speech. Frame had gone bright red and I knew I'd be told off for that later.

Thankfully we were interrupted.

"Trunks, thank kami," Bulma said, walking over. "I'm sick of dealing with him. So, since this night of festivities was your bright idea, you can explain to him why we have to have, and I quote, 'all these annoying morons around'." She crossed her arms over her chest.

I glanced sideways at Frame, who raised an eyebrow and then twirled her finger around her temple questioningly. I shrugged. The Briefs might be crazy; there certainly were enough people who thought they were but…well, judging from the night we were having so far the rumours were true. They were nice though.

"Onna!"

The events following that word are somewhat hazy in my mind. I remember snippets here and there. Such as the Prince of all Saiyans striding towards us and my heart leaping into my chest as he looked directly at me. It felt as if he knew exactly what I was hiding. I had never been so scared as I was in that moment. It was ludicrous but somehow I had felt myself smile and politely excuse myself. Inside my head, my voice echoed eerily from far away. Then my feet had been moving and Frame and I left the room.

Down the two flights of stairs, past an insult thrown across the room by Floss and out into the night air crowded with partying people. I had lost Frame five rooms ago. Out past the wire fencing and around a corner. Then I ran.

**Author's note:**

Wow. I can't believe I've finally finished this chapter. Writing in the first person is hard. 

Anyhoo, sorry for making you guys wait so long and sorry for this being such a short chapter. 

To Meiharu – well here it is. Enjoy. 


	7. Flight

**A Lost Love**

By Karete-chan

**Chapter 6:**

I was terrified. So terrified, that I didn't even wait until I was out of sight before I took to the air. Didn't think or even realise that he might have been able to tell. Didn't think that someone else may have seen me and reported it, leading him to me.

My house was dark when I landed in the backyard. I could hear the television blaring from the house next door. Normalcy. It wasn't comforting. The grass was already coated with dew and crunched loudly beneath my feet as I made my way towards my back porch. I jumped as the back security light switched on and nearly fell down the two steps I had just climbed.

Steadying myself against the wooden rail I managed to get myself inside the house as quietly as my trembling hands would allow. And anyone who has tried to use keys quietly with trembling hands will know what I mean.

My parents were obviously asleep and I planned very much on keeping it that way. Climbing the stairs and remembering to skip the one that creaked I made my way to my room, opened my cupboard and pulled out my duffle bag. For half an hour after that I sat on my bed and stared at it, trying to come to terms with what I was planning to do and whether or not it was the right thing or just panic making me overreact.

At the end of the half hour I began to pack.

I knew what I was doing would hurt my parents. I also knew that if I stayed in West City I would run into Vegeta and if that happened I wouldn't live very long.

_That was the prince of the Saiya-jins. I want you to stay away from him. If he ever found out about you, he would want to kill you. Saiya-jins don't approve of crossbreeds. They believe that their blood should always remain pure. If he should ever see your tail, he would know that it is a Saiya-jin tail. If he found out that I was your father, he would hate you even more._

My father's words echoed dully in my head. How I wish he were here now. My eyes drifted sideways to the loose panel in my wall and before I knew it I was holding the photo of myself in my hands.

Not until that moment had I realised just how much my father's memory had faded from my mind. My own picture brought back to me how he had really been, for in my mind he had begun to look just like everyone else on this backwards little planet.

I cried for the first time in a long while that night. Sobbed silently so that I wouldn't wake my adoptive parents, sobbed until I was gasping for breath, sobbed because I knew that once again I was going to have to leave everything I knew behind.

When my tears had stopped flowing I turned my attention back to the duffle bag that lay looking pathetic and half empty on my bed. I pulled the remaining items from the space in the wall and threw them on top of what clothes I was taking. When I had finished stripping my room the duffle bag still looked forlorn and misused. I had not taken a thing that I hadn't paid for myself and I was surprised at how little I actually owned. I went to zip the bag up and paused as the phone began to ring shrilly downstairs.

For the second time that night my heart jumped into my throat. _He has found me!_ I heard my mother curse as she stubbed her toe on the dresser as she always did when she got up in the dark, then her bedroom door opened with its familiar creak and her comforting pad of footsteps faded down the hall and onto the stairs. I opened my door a fraction so that her conversation would reach my ears clearly.

"Hello?" she asked groggily, not bothering with phone courtesy as she normally would. "Do you have any idea what time it is?"

There was a pause.

"She what? No. No. I can't believe that… It isn't midnight yet, they are old enough… Had I thought that was the case I wouldn't have let her go," her voice had turned indignant. "Are you implying that I…" she sighed. "No. No she isn't, I would have heard her come in…Yes, I'm sure, but surely Frame is a sensible enough girl to…look is she alright? Well then I will bring Zena around in the morning and we will sort this out then. Yes. Yes. Goodnight." The phone went back into its cradle with a click.

I shut my door silently. Hearing that had not hardened my heart towards what I was going to do. My mother's footsteps sounded on the stairs.

I hurriedly pulled he zip closed on the bag and went to the window. In retrospect it had not been one of my finest ideas when I dropped the duffle bag into the garden beds below. Not only did it make short work of the plants that had stood there undamaged under my mother's care for years as it fell through them and out of sight but it also made a noise loud enough to catch her ear. I froze at the knock on my door.

"Zena? Are you home?"

My mother stepped into the room. It was a moment before she realised what she saw. Then she rushed to the window and saw the destruction of her plants. Finally she turned away, running back into the house and screaming for my adoptive father.

I lay flat on the roof above my room having chosen to hoist myself up there rather than do something so cliché as to climb down a drain pipe. I stood silently wondering at the chances of standing on two roofs in one night and quietly made my way down the branches of an over hanging tree to the ground where I ran to collect my bag. I would have flown or moved faster but by that time I had realised that Vegeta might have been looking for me and any energy I used would be picked up by even the most basic of scouters.

Even so I was across the street and hiding in the darkness of the local park before my parents realised I may be nearby outside somewhere. They emerged from the front door of our house and began shouting for me. Lights went on in a house down the street. It was probably the nosy old woman who always asked me far too personal questions when I passed her on my way home from school. She was one of those people who seemed to think that if they water for long enough their concrete driveways may begin to grow.

My parents were in the street now, looking for any clue that might tell them where I was. It did not matter if they searched. Even without the use of my powers I still had ample time to become suitably 'lost'. The police would require me to be 'missing' for at least a day before they began to search and I planned to be a long way from any place anyone knew I had ever been before then.

My mother had suddenly glanced in my direction. "Goodbye," I said softly, knowing she could not hear or see me.

And then, for the second time in my life, I walked away.

* * *

As I had thought it would be, hiding was a simple matter. I had made my way carefully north and had found work in a small city situated on a small island south west of North City.

I was extremely bored in my newfound profession. Though it was for a fairly prestigious law firm, I was a lowly temp and as such did nothing more all day than sit and type away at a computer console. Occasionally someone would demand I make them a cup of tea of coffee. It took very little time indeed for the high priced lawyers and their assistants to become aware that I made the very worst cup of tea or coffee they had ever been forced to sample.

Making those awful beverages, which of course I did deliberately, were the only entertainment I allowed myself. I had made no friends at the firm, something which my overseer endlessly nagged me about, often ending with, "How do you expect to move up in the world?" I didn't: I was waiting until I had enough money to anonymously commission a ship from Capsule Corporation and then I was leaving for good.

As I arrived back at my very small and sparse apartment that night my landlord was sitting on his patio. He sighed as I passed which after my four weeks of being there told me he wanted to start a conversation.

"Good evening Mr. Jun, have you collected any back rent today?" I asked knowing that there was a couple on the top floor who always paid at least three weeks late.

He pulled his pipe out his mouth and the foul smelling smoke wafted over me. "Nope, didn't have the heart; too much depressing news around."

"Oh? What has happened?"

He shook his head. "Nothing specific really but seeing you just reminded me, that girl that disappeared down in West City, she was on the news again today." He sighed again. "Poor little thing. They've called off the search, even after Capsule Corp. threw in with them. Did you know that she had known the Briefs boy?"

"No, no I did not," I answered slowly. "Why have they stopped looking?"

"Oh not all of them have, just the cops. Apparently Capsule Corp. is supporting the parents and even providing counselling for the students at her school."

I couldn't stop the snort that escaped my nose at that. Mr. Jun glared at me.

"Well you may think like that, but people can be close in big cities too. Course it's not like it is here. Were content not be part of the mainland here. Lower crime rate."

I nodded, as if agreeing with him. "Well, Mr. Jun, I must be going, my shopping will spoil if I stay out in this sunlight for much longer."

He nodded to me as I took my leave and continued up to my apartment.

I turned my small television on as soon as I was in and listened to the news as I prepared my dinner. It didn't take long for the report about me to come on. I listened with half an ear. It was the same old story. Even Floss made her regular appearance, getting all dramatic over how she had lost such a fine friend. When I had first heard her say that I had been drinking milk and until then had not known that I possessed the ability to make it come out my nose. Mr. Jun had billed me for the price of the carpet cleaners.

Bulma was on the screen talking now. I frowned at her. Knowing that Capsule Corporation had been helping the police search made me double my efforts to stay away from them. For all appearances I no longer looked like the young girl whose photo now showed on the screen. My parents had managed to find of the few in which I was actually smiling, which was a bad choice in itself was because I rarely did so anyway but I had since dyed my hair the most common shade of brown I could find and had brown contacts made for my eyes. I dressed only as a professional outside the apartment and I wore enough make-up so that I appeared a few years older. My official I.D claimed that I was 19 and it had cost me a fair sum of money, so much so I almost did not have enough left to cover the bond and rent; another thing my parents had not known about, the substantial of money I had saved from all the babysitting and odd jobs I had done over the years. I was thankful that I had been lucky enough to find a permanent job so quickly.

I turned the television to another channel and sat down on my cheap futon, which was my only excuse for a chair and ate my measly dinner. It had only been a sandwich and that night, like every night I went to sleep hungry but I reminded myself of my goal and made myself believe that it would all be worth it in the end.

* * *

**Author's note:**

Gak! I did it; yet another chapter. Slowly getting there slowly…sigh I'm sorry for the lengthy wait in between these chapters but I suffer from writers block during the semester and only seem to be able to write when I'm supposed to be studying for m exams. Oh well. Enjoy!

Thanks to my reviewers who have waited so long for this:

JJ

Marissa - Goten was talking about Zena not Frame

Crazy

Earth Dragon

Jillybean - erm, 7 year olds remember a lot of stuff and she would've been trained by Zarbon before she was sent away and if you read the prologue it's actually stated that her mother is a Saiya-jin, which is why Vegeta would kill her if he found her

I hope you guys are still reading despite the fact I haven't updated this stupid thing in over a year...>.> . -.-'


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